Abstract

In Walong Diwata ng Pagkahulog (Eight Muses of the Fall), Edgar Calabia

Samar presents memory, consciousness, and identity in a more individualistic

light compared the usual theme of modern Philippine literature. The research

was conducted to find out the manner by which he presents these ideas in the

novel as well as the significance of using for the reader. To find out, constructs

from Cognitive Poetics were used in the analysis, namely the deixis or point

of reference, and the existence of possible worlds.

Samar writes the three notions into his novel by emulating the

characteristics of these faculties. Memory in the novel mimics the fragmented

and disjointed structure of memories as people recollect them. It also acts as

the source of information on what happens in the story. Consciousness acts

as the faculty collecting and recollecting the experiences stored in memory.

This notion sets the boundaries on what are to be known by the readers.

Identity is what was pieced together through the constant collection and

recollection of memories.

This way of presenting memory, consciousness, and identity provides a

venue for an active participation of the mind through the imagination of

possible worlds.